5 Quick Things #320 🌱

AI, moderation, sub-creating, & a good communion

Hey there,

This is coming to you a little later in the morning because I just had coffee with a neighborhood friend, because why not? Real life takes priority over online stuff, I always say¹. I’ve had a lot of work this past month, and I’ve hardly come up for air. Little coffee dates and small breaks to dig in the dirt have been my sanity these days. I take ‘em when I get ‘em.

Tonight Kyle and I are driving to San Antonio for a concert, and it’ll be good to get out of our heads and do something fun with friends. It’s been quite a while since we’ve done something just for fun, and I think it’ll be just the ticket! Grateful for bits of lightness in the midst of a full season.

View near Sherburne, Chenango County, NY (1853), by Jasper Francis Cropsey #

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5 Quick Things ☕️

1. New episode of A Drink with a Friend! Acedia is our modern-day dragon — the desert fathers and mothers named it “the Noonday Devil.” What is it, really? And how do we fight it? I talk with Harrison Garlick, a deacon with the Diocese of Tulsa, to unpack the ladder of love we have to climb to slay our dragon. …I thought about this conversation for days afterward.

2. If you’re like me, you both sigh a deep sigh and bury your head in the sand when you hear the word-phrase “AI.” Stop talking about AI and/or telling me it’s inevitable, I usually think—and it seems like it was the topic du jour this week².

Josh Brake

sums up nicely how I feel about AI specifically as a word generator these days: “What our world needs is not more for the sake of more. …The celebration of more words in less time is deeply ironic. It’s hard for me to think of many things that our world could use less than millions of machine-generated words.” AGREE.

3. I’ve really been enjoying

Sara Dietz

’s series unpacking the Mass (related: if you’ve ever wondered what the heck happens in a Catholic Mass, or why there’s all the smells and bells, this is a great series to follow!). This week’s was just what I needed—how to receive communion to the fullest: “In receiving the Eucharist, though, we not only receive Christ Himself (as if that were not enough!!), we also receive back our transformed and sanctified gift of self.”

4. Once again, Jon Haidt with

After Babel

says the thing that needs to be said regarding our modern-day use of technology — “content moderation” isn’t enough to make digital spaces safe or enjoyable for us (and especially our kids). In quoting Marshall McLuhan, he says: “Our conventional response to all media, namely that it is how they are used that counts, is the numb stance of the technological idiot. For the ‘content’ of a medium is like the juicy piece of meat carried by the burglar to distract the watchdog of the mind.” Yep.

5. And finally,

JRR Jokien

hosts a guest essay reflecting on Tolkien’s views of humans as sub-creators (or co-creators) in tandem with the first and original Creator — insightful and encouraging, I thought: “Your sub-creations matter. Your plate of food that gets sped-eaten by your child, your debut song with 40 listens, your Excel spreadsheet that is for your eyes only but makes your job way more efficient, your art, your writing, your woodwork, your lesson plans…they all contribute to this world, God’s primary creation, in a unique way.”

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Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📻

Blue Water Highway (who we’re seeing live tonight!)

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Quotable 💬

“Act as if everything depended on you; trust as if everything depended on God.”

-St. Ignatius of Loyola

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What’s your biggest classic fear? 😱

I’m with the majority here: heights takes the cake on all these for me, and it isn’t even close. I’m not a fan of snakes or spiders but they’re not necessarily a fear of mine (which is good, because here in Texas you’ll find both in your backyard). But if my brain even wanders toward the edge of contemplating wandering near an edge? My stomach drops and I die a small internal death. No thank you.

Related: I’m not thrilled that I asked this question this week because I had more than a few dreams that featured heights, snakes, and crowds. I did it to myself.

• Heights: 27.8%

• Snakes: 25.7%

• Public Speaking: 16.1%

• Spiders: 12.1%

• Crowds: 7.9%

• Germs: 5.6%

• Flying: 4.7%

Find this week’s poll here.

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Quick Links 🔗

• 📐Create your own Rule of Life

• 🎧 Listen to A Drink With a Friend

• 📖 Read my books

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Question(s) For You to Ponder… 🤔

What could you do this weekend that, one year later, you’ll be glad you did?

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Have a good weekend,

- Tsh

p.s. The logic checks out.

1. Not that you’re not important if you’re reading this — you are! I’m glad you’re here.

2. I’m aware that du jour means “of the day.” But you get my gist.